


Beyond Nova Touhou 3

by Drk_Nexus



Series: Beyond Nova Touhou [3]
Category: Touhou Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 02:27:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10912443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drk_Nexus/pseuds/Drk_Nexus
Summary: The exciting conclusion to the Beyond Nova Touhou series is finally here. Extremely loosely adapted from Imperishable Night.





	1. Chapter 1

_“Do you remember how we first met?”_

***

Marisa Chen flew through the skies of Touhou, the gentle winds a bitter contrast to her own demeanor. Her mind was restless. She was not looking forward to the encounter she was about to face, but she had no other choice. If nothing else, Marisa could always count on herself to do what had to be done.

She saw her destination approaching on the horizon, a small cottage in a sparsely populated forest. It had been so many years since she last came here; she thought she never would again. So much had changed since then. At times she barely recognized the landscape. But that small blue house looked just like Marisa remembered it. It was enough to get her angry all over again. She bit down on the emotion before it had a chance to grow.

Marisa floated down to the house and stood in front of its door. She hesitated. A small part of her kept whispering that this was a bad idea. (Actually, it was a big part of her, and it was screaming, but Marisa was already trying so hard to keep her dignity. She wanted to believe it was working.) Finally, she knocked on the door. During the first knock, she noticed there was a doorbell. She shrugged and kept knocking.

The next few seconds were the longest of Marisa’s life. Then, the door opened. “...Marisa?” Alice said in surprise.

“Hey,” Marisa said.

***

Of all the things Alice Reimu didn’t expect to see today, her ex-childhood-friend and long-time enemy Marisa Chen showing up at her doorstep asking for a place to live for a while was probably about two-thirds of the way up the list. (One of the things Alice learned in the magical girl scouts years ago was to always expect the unexpected. She was pretty good at it.) But here she was, now sitting in Alice’s living room, sipping warm herbal tea in between telling Alice what had happened.

“The Empress fired you?!” Alice asked, shocked.

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” Marisa retorted. “Didn’t even give a reason. Just sent me a message thanking me for my contributions to the Empire and saying my services were no longer required.” She snorted, showing just how much she thought of the Empress’s thanks. “After that, I… I had nowhere else to go.” She stared sadly into her teacup.

Alice considered the girl sitting on her couch. The day Marisa became the Scarlet Devil, Alice cut all ties of friendship with her. She could never forgive Marisa for the atrocities she had committed over the years, all the genocides in lands far across the ocean, all the pain she carried out at the Empress’s commands, even if it was in the name of Touhou. But a part of her kept remembering Marisa as the best friend she had once been. (Actually, it was a small part, but Alice was trying very hard to be a good person here. She was a hero, after all.) She tried to cling to that hazy mental image.

“I guess you can stay here for a little while,” Alice said slowly. “Until you can get back on your feet, I mean.”

Marisa looked up from the cup. “Really?” Her eyes sung of a hope that she dared not give words to. “Even after… everything?”

Alice shrugged, trying as hard as possible to make it seem casual. “It’s all in the past now.”

Marisa exhaled. “Yeah. I guess it is.”

Alice changed the subject. “We can figure out the details later; I was actually about to go out when you got here. It’s Yggie’s birthday today, so we’re all throwing him a party.” She paused in thought for a few seconds. “Do you… want to come?”

Marisa stood still for a few seconds, then smiled. “I think I’d like that.”

***

After an hour of casual flying, Alice and Marisa reached their destination. They drifted down to the ground above a vast field of flowers. The Garden of the Sun was in fool bloom at this time of year. The aromas of spring resonated in the noses of every Touhou within miles of the blossoming meadow. The girls landed near a picnic table that seated a handful of magical girls Marisa faintly recognized.

“Yuyuko!” Alice shouted, floating straight into the arms of a smiling Yuyuko Youmuko. The two of them hugged, spinning in circles and laughing. “How’ve you been?”

“It’s nice to see you, too, Alice,” Yuyuko said. “And I see you brought a plus one.”

Marisa fought the urge to blush. “I was in the neighborhood,” she lied.

“The more the merrier, I always say,” said Remilia Flandre, sitting at the picnic table. The current owner of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia Flandre was a girl whose passion could only be matched by her pride. Beside her was Patchouli, the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s librarian. On the far end of the bench, not particularly trying very hard to include herself in the group but surely still part of it anyway, Rumia sat in the shadows watching everyone interact.

“Hey Patchouli,” Marisa said, “good to see you alive and kicking again.”

“Thanks!” Patchouli said. “Yuyuko helped me out with that. She even got me a body upgrade free of charge!” She activated her librarian magics to manifest a brilliantly glowing lavender gem in front of her. Its smooth surface glistened in the sunlight. “See?”

“Your complete soul gem was restored?!” Marisa was stunned. She hadn’t thought such a thing was possible. But if it could be done, Yuyuko Youmuko, the guardian of the Underworld, was the one who could do it. “I gotta admit, that’s pretty amazing even for me.”

“I know, right?” Patchouli said. “It’s so much easier to keep the Library safe now that my magic’s at full potential again. Plus, the shard I originally split off is still in place at the library, so all the old defense protocols are still in place.”

“It was for a worthy cause,” Yuyuko broke in. “That library is such a focal point of magical energy, it’s worth breaking the rules a little bit to keep it safe.” She smiled. “Even if it means you technically have one and a half souls now.” Patchouli giggled.

“Thanks again for organizing all this, Remilia,” Alice said. “I know it’s hard to get all of us in the same place at the same time, but you really pulled through.”

“It was nothing,” Remilia said. “After all, today’s a very special occasion. First birthday parties can only happen once in a lifetime.”

“Oh yeah,” Marisa said, “where’s the birthday boy? I still need to wish him a happy birthday!”

“He’s on the table,” Yuyuko said.

Marisa looked on the picnic table. The only thing on top of it was… a potted plant. A small stalk of a baby tree, not even two feet tall. “That’s… just a…”

Yuyuko wiped a tear from her face. “It seems like only yesterday he sprouted his first leaves. He’s growing up so fast…” Alice took Yuyuko in a comforting embrace. “Oh Alice, you could never understand the joys of being a parent.”

At that moment, Marisa decided everyone around her was insane.

Alice and Marisa joined the others at the table, and they all shared in the small talk and the birthday joy for what seemed like hours. After a while, even Marisa let her guard down and started opening up and enjoying herself. She couldn’t remember the last time she was able to unwind with friends like this. Being an elite soldier for the Empire was—had been—a full time job with no room for friendship or fun. In fact, it was even one of the mantras the Empress ran her palace by, that the only solidarity a soldier should have was for the Empire. As the conversation drifted to Alice’s friends asking Marisa about her life, she told them some of the things that were on her mind.

“That Empress is a monster, I’ve always said,” Remilia interrupted. Patchouli rolled her eyes, no doubt having heard all this before. Remilia didn’t notice. “Maybe thousands or even hundreds of years ago, that kind of brutality was acceptable, but not in this day and age. We’re civilized! We shouldn’t condone the sort of violence the Empress brings about. No offense meant to you, of course, Marisa. You were just following orders.”

“None taken, I think,” Marisa said.

“Slaughtering millions, thinking she can rule the entire planet from the shadows with an iron fist… It’s reprehensible!” Remilia continued. “And the gall of that woman, to hide her name from the public record! She’s never even shown herself to the public! Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if no one even knew what she looked like outside the Touhou Palace.”

“What about you, Marisa? Have you ever seen the Empress?” Patchouli asked.

“Now that I think about it,” Marisa said, “I’ve never seen her in person either. I don’t think anyone has. Her true identity is shrouded in darkness.” Out of the corner of her eye, Marisa caught Rumia hiding a smile, presumably because of the darkness-based pun.

“It’s appalling, that’s what it is,” Remilia said. “And no way to run a government. If I were in charge, I’d do things _very_ differently.”

Throughout Remilia’s political rant, Alice and Yuyuko stayed completely silent, only exchanging occasional glances at one another. Marisa wished she could have done the same, but Remilia had gotten all fired up, and Marisa was the perfect target for Remilia to deliver her sermon to. It probably didn’t help that Marisa was already indirectly related to the inner workings of the Empire. At this rate, she would never be able to move on like she wanted to.

Finally, Alice came to her rescue. “So anyway, it’s Yggie’s birthday today! Did anyone else bring presents?” In an instant, Remilia’s expression of provocation faded into a grin, as did everyone else’s. The party was back on track.

“I got him something!” Patchouli said. She magically manifested a bag on the seat next to her and rummaged through it. She pulled out a large leather tome with an engraving of a tree on its cover. She handed it to Yuyuko. “It’s an encyclopedia of all known arboreal species in Touhou. For when he’s older.”

“Thank you,” Yuyuko said graciously. “Trees can’t read, but I’ll be sure to read it to him every night before he goes to sleep.” Patchouli gleamed with happiness.

“I got him a little something, too,” Alice said. She pulled a small piece of paper out of her pocket. “It’s a ticket to get into the Eientei Wildlife Preserve. For, like, a vacation I guess.” Alice blushed. “It’s hard to find good gifts for baby trees,” she confessed.

Yuyuko took the ticket and gently touched her fingers to Alice’s face. “I think it’s wonderful. Truly, thank you.” Alice’s smile was so wide and earnest that it went across her entire face. Seeing the two of them interact like this, Marisa wondered humorously if Alice was the kid’s other parent.

“So,” Marisa said in jest, “how soon can Yggie expect a baby brother or sister?”

Yuyuko shook her head. “One is enough, I think. Besides, the Japanese economy still hasn’t fully recovered.” She took a look at the sapling on the table. Warmth filled her eyes. “He can be quite the handful,” she said with a smile.

At that moment, Rumia stood up. “I would like to say a few words,” she said. Everyone looked at her.

“Tch, that’s all you ever say,” Marisa said. Alice shot Marisa a scowl, but Marisa managed to dodge it with indifference. She was a Touhou, after all.

“We would love to hear what you have to say,” Yuyuko said. Alice nodded confirmation, as did Remilia and Patchouli. Marisa shrugged internally, then nodded externally.

Rumia looked over the magical girls sitting before her. “Today is a very special day,” she began. “One year ago today, a new world was born. The child of Yggdrasil entered our world, as a caterpillar must enter its cocoon before it is ready to take wing. A lot can happen in a year. People are born, people die, empires can rise and fall. But the person who dies is surely not worthy of this world. The empire that falls surely falls because it is weak. The strong survive, and they become stronger by surviving.”

The other Touhous looked toward each other in apparent confusion. This sure was a weird birthday speech, Marisa thought, but she assumed it would make more sense as it went on.

Rumia continued. “The Touhou Empire is strong because its people make it strong. They know they are part of something greater than themselves, greater than they ever could be. That solidarity is what makes the Empire thrive.”

Marisa’s eyes widened. _It couldn’t be_.

“But there comes a time when sacrifices must be made for further expansion.” A speck of sunlight glinted in Rumia’s hand, revealing a previously concealed dagger.

“Watch out!” Marisa said, jumping up.

Alice had just enough time to turn to Marisa in confusion before Rumia plunged the dagger into Alice’s chest. Alice fell to the ground, limp. Remilia and Patchouli stood up, but before they could do anything, two more magical girls appeared out of thin air and restrained them. Rumia raised her arms, and a thick cloud of pure darkness rose out from the ground, reaching far into the sky, blacking out the sun. Marisa shot an energy ball at Rumia. It exploded against her energy shield. She didn’t even blink.

Rumia grabbed Yggie’s pot from the table. Yuyuko screamed “NO!” and was blasted away by a telekinetic attack. Rumia pointed her free hand at Marisa. “You would have made Sakuya proud,” she said. The last thing Marisa saw was the glowing ball of energy shooting toward her.


	2. Chapter 2

_“She was never able to break me.”_

***

Alice woke up with a gasp. Her body felt like it was on fire. She couldn’t see anything. Breathing heavily, she weakly lifted a hand to her chest. Her dress was damp with blood. Alice dimly recognized a voice shouting next to her, “She’s awake!” She turned her head in the direction of that voice. Patchouli was kneeling beside her.

“What…” Alice tried to speak, but she trailed into a coughing fit.

“Don’t try to talk yet,” Patchouli said. “My healing spell used up most of the energy you had left.” Patchouli shouted again to someone behind her. “Quick! She needs something to drink!”

 _Healing spell?_ Alice tried remembering but her brain was too fuzzy to be able to think. “Where…” She tried speaking again but Patchouli promptly shushed her. She slowly pushed herself off her back. She was on the ground, in a field of sunflowers poking their heads out from black shrouded soil.

Remilia ran over to the pair of girls in the dirt and shoved a cup into Alice’s face. “Drink this, it’ll help.”

Alice grasped the cup and drank. Why was the sky black? She had been out with her friends for some reason, when… Her memory was still too hazy. She coughed more, spitting up some of the water she had just drunk. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. When she looked down at it, there was some blood. Her chest throbbed. She had been at a party. Her eyes widened with sudden recollection. “Rumia! Where did—”

“She’s gone,” Remilia said. “Don’t worry about that now. All you need to do is rest.”

Alice heaved a sigh of relief that made her so lightheaded she almost fainted. Patchouli was right; she really was weak. “How am I alive?” Alice asked. “The last thing I remember, I was…” Alice shivered. She didn’t want to relive that memory again so soon.

“Rumia managed not to hit any vital organs,” Remilia said. “Or to put it another way, she managed to _not hit_ any vital organs. She’s either really unlucky, or she wasn’t trying to kill you.” Remilia’s tone made it clear which possibility she thought was more likely.

Alice ran her hand along her eternally prepubescent chest where the dagger penetrated her flesh. The hole the blade tore into her was no longer there, already sealed and sewn up thanks to Patchouli’s healing magic. There would probably be a scar there for the rest of her life, but she could live with that. “Where are Marisa and Yuyuko? Are they okay?”

Patchouli answered. “Marisa tried to fight and took a pretty big hit, but she wasn’t hurt too badly. Yuyuko, though…”

Terror clenched Alice’s heart. She was too physically weak to stand up, but she was still a magical girl. She floated herself upright. The magical strain was almost too much to bear. Everything was pitch black, except for occasional wisps of even darker black, and the few people and objects around her.

She saw them on the other side of the picnic table. Yuyuko was sitting on the ground curled into a ball, and Marisa was in front of her, speaking to her softly. Yuyuko didn’t look like she was listening to anything Marisa was saying. She didn’t even look like she could see Marisa in front of her, the way her eyes were staring so lifelessly. Alice floated over to them.

“We’re going to get him back,” Marisa was saying. “I promise you. We’re going to get him back.”

Alice’s heart sank. Rumia had taken Yggie. “What happened?” Alice asked.

 “Rumia happened,” Marisa said. “Turns out she’s the Empress. She stabbed you, blocked out the sun, grabbed Yggie, and disappeared with a couple henchmen after knocking me out.” She looked away in self-disgust. “I wasn’t able to do anything to stop it.”

Alice ceased her floating, landing next to Marisa and Yuyuko with a gentle thump that sent reams of pain down her legs. “You did what you could,” Alice said. She was grateful beyond words for Marisa’s attempts to console Yuyuko, whether they were working or not. She couldn’t imagine the grief Yuyuko must be feeling right now. Going by Yuyuko’s hollow gaze into the void surrounding them, Alice didn’t _want_ to imagine. “Rumia had henchmen?”

Marisa nodded. “Two of them. They appeared right after she attacked you. Patchouli and Remilia managed to fight them off, but at that point, Rumia was already gone.” Marisa growled. “They were only here as a distraction, and we fell for it.”

It was all a lot to take in, but Alice was able to process things much better now, so she was trying to keep up. The situation was dire. If there was anything they could do, they needed to figure out what it was soon, and do it fast. “Do you have any idea who they were?” Alice asked. She knew it was a longshot, but Marisa _had_ been in the employ of the Empress in the very recent past.

“Not a clue,” Marisa said. “I didn’t recognize them at all.” She looked like she wanted to punch a brick wall in the face.

“I did,” Yuyuko said. It was the first time she spoke since everything happened. Her voice was weak.

Remilia and Patchouli joined the girls huddled around Yuyuko. “Who were they?” Remilia asked.

“It was them…” Yuyuko said. “Those were the two girls who broke into my house in the Underworld almost a year ago, the night of the party at the Scarlet Devil Mansion.” She gripped her legs to her chest even tighter, sinking her face into her legs. “I didn’t think they would come back.” She sounded on the brink of tears.

The other girls shared thoughtful glances. Alice still remembered that day vividly. Yuyuko killed herself in order to quickly save Yggie from home intruders, and the party turned into a tense murder mystery until Yuyuko came back and they all laughed about the misunderstanding. Now, those events didn’t seem so funny. “Remilia,” Alice said with hesitation, “Rumia was at the party that night… How do you know her?”

All eyes fell on Remilia, but she didn’t seem phased. “The same way I know you,” she said. “I heard about one of her heroic adventures, and sent her an invitation to the party.” She shrugged. “I had no idea who she was.”

“We believe you,” Alice said. She could see it in Remilia’s eyes that she was telling the truth. “What was the heroic adventure she went on?”

“She liberated a small town near me from an evil magical girl,” Remilia said. “Cirno, I think was her name. She took over Misty Lake Village, and then a couple days later, some unknown upstart named Rumia took her down. The whole ordeal caused quite the stir in our neck of the woods. So, out went an invitation.” Patchouli nodded along with that whole story to corroborate it.

“No way,” Marisa said. “I knew Cirno from the Touhou Royal Army.” All eyes fell upon her now. “She wasn’t evil. Just a little cocky and a lot oblivious. She was a good target for practical jokes, you know? But… she disappeared a little over a year ago. We all wondered what happened to her, but we never got an answer. Until now, I guess.”

Remilia frowned. “I’m starting to suspect a conspiracy.”

“Me too,” Marisa said, and it looked like everyone else agreed.

“So,” Alice said, “the Empress tricks one of her soldiers into posing as an evil magical girl, swoops in and pretends to be a hero named Rumia, comes to our party and… what? She didn’t _do_ anything to us that day. What’s the point of it all?”

“To mess with us?” Marisa suggested. “Clearly, the great and glorious Empress of Touhou is kinda bonkers. Why else would she block out the sun if not to declare herself as a generic evil Touhou of darkness? Frankly, we should have seen this coming.”

Remilia shook her head. “I don’t think so. There’s a lot more method than madness to her actions so far, even if we don’t see it yet.”

“I think I know what she’s doing,” Patchouli said. “But I really hope I’m wrong.”

“Tell us,” Alice said.

“This darkness Rumia created,” Patchouli began, “isn’t normal magic. It’s way too powerful. A typical anti-light field would have faded by now, because its creator is no longer here to maintain it. But Rumia left, and she got out of here in a hurry, so she’s probably long gone. So, either she’s using ancient forbidden arts to increase her power, like blood magic or soul gem fission, or the field of darkness is really, _really_ big… and she’s still in it.”

“How big?” Alice asked. “Miles?”

“…Planet-wide.”

Marisa broke into nervous laughter. “That’s crazy! There’s no way the entire planet can be covered in darkness.” Her laughter trailed off into a pleading question. “Right?”

“There’s only one way,” Patchouli said. “This magic didn’t come directly from Rumia. It came from a spell card.” Everyone gasped. “It’s a card called the Spell of the Imperishable Night. It’s a mythic rare from one of the very first expansions. No one thought there could be any copies left after this many hundreds of years, but Rumia—the Empress—must have managed to find one.”

“Imperishable Night?” Marisa said. “Please tell me that’s not as ominous as it sounds.”

“If the spell isn’t broken in 24 hours, this darkness will become permanent.”

“We need to find Rumia,” Alice said. “We need to rescue Yggie, break the Spell of the Imperishable Night, and save the world.” She knew it wouldn’t be easy, but it had to be done. She was a hero, after all. And now an evil Touhou was threatening the fabric of reality quite literally. She almost started getting giddy from the anticipated thrill of fighting down a bad guy again after so long in semi-retirement. She felt guilty over the childish thought.

“Hell yeah we will!” Marisa said, clearly giving in to her own childish anticipation. “We’ll teach that Rumia a thing or two about what happens when someone messes with my friends!” She smiled defiantly, a small ray of hope against a backdrop of blackness.

“We’ll make her regret thinking she could ever outsmart us,” Remilia said.

“Don’t worry, Yuyuko,” Patchouli said. “We’ll figure this out and get back your baby.”

Yuyuko was still on the ground between them, curled into a ball of desolation. She hadn’t said anything since offering the information on the two magical girls. Alice kneeled in front of her. She took Yuyuko’s head in her hands, lifting it so Yuyuko was looking directly into Alice’s eyes. There was nothing good in Yuyuko’s eyes. No hint of happiness, no trace of hope. Not even fear, or sadness, or desperation. Just a quiet, griefless resignation. “You haven’t lost yet,” Alice said. Her tone was as harsh as her words. “But if you give up now, _your child will die_.”

Yuyuko’s eyes widened.

“Yggie needs you,” Alice said. “ _We_ need you.” She let go of Yuyuko’s head. It drooped a bit, but it did not fall. She didn’t break eye contact. “Can we count on you?”

Yuyuko breathed in, life slowly returning to her as she took in air. “Yes,” she finally said.

“Good.” Alice helped Yuyuko to her feet. The rest of the girls were standing too. “Now we just need to figure out what to do when we get to Rumia.”

“Uh, one problem, hero girl,” Marisa said. “We don’t know where Rumia is.”

“Not for sure, but I have a good idea where we should look first,” Alice said. She hadn’t figured out the entire puzzle—too many pieces were still missing—but once it was all laid out in front of her, the shape of it became obvious. In her speech, Rumia spoke of new worlds and sacrifices and expanding the Empire. Now, the entire planet was shrouded by darkness. If that darkness was left unchecked, photosynthesis would end. All the plants on the planet would die. All the _trees_ on the planet would die. “But there’s only one way to get there.”


	3. Chapter 3

_“You were the world to me.”_

***

Alice was surprised that it didn’t take much convincing for everyone else to go along with her plan. They needed to follow Rumia into the Underworld—into Gensokyo—and that meant they needed to die. So they flew as fast as they could to the Pillars of the Underworld, where they would be able to die and enter the afterlife without losing their minds and memories as all other ghosts do. Yuyuko, as the Guardian of the Underworld, would keep them safe from that fate. And most importantly, she would be able to lead them to the Perfect Cherry Blossom tree, Yggdrasil. The tree that gave life to all other trees. The tree that lived because all other trees lived. It was a longshot plan, but it was the only plan they had.

It turned out the entire planet was covered in darkness after all. Without the position of the sun for navigational guidance, flying through the skies of Touhou was only slightly more annoying than it usually was. But after a couple hours, they managed to find the Pillars of the Underworld. They landed atop one of the pillars. Now came the awkward part. “Okay,” Alice said, “who wants to do the honors?” There was silence. “Should we draw straws?”

“Oh for the love of—” Marisa said, amassing a gigantic amount of energy around her. “You only live once, am I right?”

“Actually,” Alice said, “most of us—” And then they all blew up.

***

When Alice woke up, she found herself in a vaguely familiar setting, surrounded by hundreds of ghosts and spirits aimlessly wandering the bleak brown landscape of Gensokyo. The others were there too. Marisa and Patchouli were looking around in wonder at the spooky oblivious souls floating around and through them. Yuyuko and Remilia hardly seemed phased by the supernatural entities.

“So this is the Underworld,” Remilia said. A ghost hovered in front of her. She poked it, and her finger went right through its head. The ghost seemed startled for a moment watching a finger come out of its head between its eyes, but a second later it got distracted and kept floating onward. “Interesting place.”

“It can be difficult for newcomers to comprehend the way of things down here,” Yuyuko said. “Life and memory fades a lot faster in Gensokyo. Coming here through the Pillars gives us protection against those entropic currents. And as long as you all stay close to me, you’ll still be able to use your magic and fly.” She looked around. “The World Tree is that way.” She pointed. “Far on the other side of Youkai Mountain.”

Yuyuko hopped into flight, and the rest of the team followed in pursuit. Youkai Mountain was tall, but they were able to scale it in seconds thanks to the magic of their soul gems. Alice watched the mountain range shrink beneath them as they gained height. So that was Youkai Mountain, Alice thought. She always wondered if that giant mountain had a name.

The darkness affecting the Overworld did not affect the Underworld as directly as it did the Overworld itself, but the atmosphere certainly seemed darker than it did on Alice’s last visit. The infinite sky above them was a cloudless, murky gray. The infinite ground below them was a cloudless, murky brown. Behind them, mountains rose out of the ground. And far on the horizon in front of them, Yggdrasil stood waiting for them, reaching hundreds of miles into the sky. Alice almost forgot how large the World Tree loomed over the world. She really hoped Yuyuko—

A stray energy blast hit Alice and exploded against her. More energy balls followed the first, a barrage of attacks putting the entire group under fire. “Take cover!” Alice shouted before remembering they were in the sky. She tried to evade the ongoing assault, using the smoke from the explosions to her advantage. Just as suddenly as it started, the surprise attack ended. The sky was silent.

When the fog cleared, two magical girls were floating there, ready in battle formation. “We’re the border patrol sisters, Yukari and Yakumo! The Empress told us to stop you from interfering in her plans!”

“It’s them,” Remilia said. “Those are the two magical girls that helped Rumia.”

Before Alice could even think to attack them back, Yuyuko was flying toward them in a primal rage. Yuyuko formed a ball of energy around her clenched fist and punched one of the girls so hard that the girl was launched backward at a hundred miles per hour. “Holy shit,” Alice said. One enemy down, Yuyuko jerked her head toward the other. Yuyuko’s death stare could have chilled a sun. The girl froze in fear.

Yuyuko raised her palm to the girl in open threat. She slowly floated toward the girl, who started to back away. “Don’t move or I’ll end you,” Yuyuko said. The girl was still.

Alice and the others flew to join Yuyuko, who never let down her arm. The girl trembled as they approached. “P-please don’t hurt me! I’m only following orders! What do you want from me?”

“Answers,” Yuyuko spat. “What is Rumia planning?”

“S-she wants to use Alice to—I’m not going to tell you people anything!”

In the blink of an eye, Yuyuko moved within inches of the girl. Her hand was wrapped around the girl’s neck. Her fingers played at gripping it tighter, each finger like the blade of a knife being dragged against a surface it yearned to slice. “Talk now, or never again.”

The girl struggled to speak. “Okay! I’ll tell you what I know!” Yuyuko loosened her grip, but only a little. The girl gasped for air. Once she was able to calm down, she spoke again. “All I know is, the Empress needed to bring the Kiddrasil here to Biggdrasil while the sky was dark. She didn’t say why. I didn’t ask.”

“What does Rumia want with me?” Alice asked.

“ _Get away from my sister!_ ” a voice shouted from far off, but it was approaching very quickly. “ _Yukari! Are you okay?_ ” Yuyuko raised her other arm and blasted the oncoming Yakumo with an energy ball that sent her flying back all over again.

“You shouldn’t be able to fly and use your magic like that in the Underworld,” Yuyuko said. “Are you alive?”

Yukari nodded. “My sister and I can cross any border. Including the border between Touhou and Gensokyo.”

“I see.” Yuyuko looked like she was deep in thought. “Show me your soul gem.”

A shiver went up Yukari’s spine. Yuyuko tightened her grip around Yukari’s neck. The girl squealed in fear, and a glowing pink gem manifested itself in front of her. “There it is, you happy now?”

Yuyuko pinched the gem between her thumb and forefinger on her free hand. She looked over the precious stone from top to bottom, side to side, examining its every glistening facet. The gem practically hummed in her hand, as vibrant and animated as any living thing might be, colors seeming to constantly shift on its surface. Yuyuko held it in front of herself. Then, she dropped it. Yukari’s eyes widened as the soul gem disappeared in the distance beneath them. Yuyuko simply watched Yukari’s reaction, energy condensing into a ball in her empty hand. She threw the energy ball downward. For a long few seconds, nothing happened.

An explosion louder, bigger, and brighter than any Alice had ever heard completely engulfed the sky below them. Smoke and fire and burning hot air rose out of the blast, almost reaching back up to the girls as high as they were in the sky. Yukari screamed, but whether it was in anguish or agony, Alice couldn’t say. Her body slumped down in Yuyuko’s tight grip on her neck, no longer able to hold itself afloat with magic.

“Why…” Yukari was barely able to speak. “Why would you… Now I’m a…”

“A youkrai?” Yuyuko shook her head. “No. I _destroyed_ your soul gem. You’re _nothing_.”

Tears swelled in Yukari’s eyes. Yuyuko threw her to Remilia like a ragdoll. For all intents and purposes, Yukari _was_ a ragdoll now. She had no magic anymore. This far into the sky, all she could do was beg not to be dropped.

Remilia caught the poor girl and held her rigid body in both arms. “Don’t you think this is a little harsh?” Remilia asked.

“They took my son,” Yuyuko said. “This isn’t nearly what she deserves.”

Remilia looked again at Yukari and shrugged.                     

“Come on. We have a lot more sky to cover before we reach Yggdrasil.”

The party traveled onward for a long time, none of them breaking the silence that engulfed them after the short battle. Alice knew what they were all thinking. She was thinking it too. Yuyuko was on a dangerous path, and Alice had no idea what to do to reel her back in before she went too far.

Alice wanted to shiver whenever she thought about Yukari’s annihilated soul gem. Yukari was no longer a magical girl. She was just a—a _girl_. It was horrific. It was cruel. Alice herself was a youkrai; she had been born with only a partial soul gem. It was an inconvenience at times, mostly just when people tried holding it against her like it somehow made her less of a person. She was lucky to be a powerful witch despite that shortcoming. She would never reach the potential she might have had if her soul gem had been complete, but she had come to terms with that a long time ago. She couldn’t begin to imagine what life would be like without _any_ magic.

“Hey, Alice,” Marisa said. Alice hadn’t even noticed the girl approach her. “When we get to the tree… What are we going to do? Rumia is too powerful for us to fight, even five on one.”

“We’ll think of something,” Alice said. She hoped Marisa didn’t hear the doubt in her words.

“And what about Mrs. Tree Hugger?” Marisa gave a sidelong glance to Yuyuko. “Does she have enough marbles left to be able to help the rest of us?”

“Leave Yuyuko to me. If worst comes to worst, I’ll keep her under control.”

“Okay. I trust you.” Marisa smiled warmly to Alice. Alice smiled back. She wanted to tell Marisa that she trusted her, too. But before she had the chance, Yuyuko darted ahead at blistering speed. Yggdrasil was still far away, but now they were close enough to see a small speck of a person-shaped silhouette at the world tree’s base. A silhouette emanating darkness that was darker than the darkest black. Rumia.

“Yuyuko!” Alice shouted, and she raced forward to try to catch up to her friend. She used her magic to propel herself faster than she had ever flown before. She tuned out all distractions. Whether the other girls were following her, she had no idea. She had to reach Yuyuko before Yuyuko reached Rumia.

An energy ball hit Alice from the side and exploded. Smoke and bright lights filled her vision. She heard someone shouting. “ _What did you do to my sister!_ ” Alice launched her own energy balls in the direction of that voice. She flew out of the smoke. Yakumo was fighting the other girls now. Alice ignored them. Yuyuko was getting further ahead. Alice flew toward her, toward Rumia, toward Yggdrasil.

Rumia turned around. She looked at the distant but rapidly approaching Yuyuko with annoyed disinterest. Yggie was in her arms. Yuyuko howled with rage and sped toward Rumia.

Alice had to concentrate. She only had once chance to get this right. She focused her chakras. She needed to go faster. She hoped her fractured soul gem could handle the overload she was about to give it. Alice pooled as much energy as she could into her gem, into her entire body, loading it like a spring being pushed almost to its breaking point. Despite the tension, Alice couldn’t help but laugh. Finally, she’d know what it felt like to be the invisible bullet. Releasing the energy, she launched herself at Rumia.

Rumia never saw her coming. Alice shot right past Yuyuko and right into Rumia with a Mach 5 headbutt strong enough to pulverize boulders into oblivion. It would have killed Alice if she had not already been dead. Rumia took the hit hard, dropping Yggie and being slammed backward. Both of them slammed into the base of the world tree.

Alice wasn’t sure if there were any bones in her body that weren’t broken, but she didn’t want to give Rumia any time to recover. She immediately launched a barrage of energy balls upon Rumia, who wasted no time at all in enveloping herself with a shield of darkness. The shield spat its own energy balls out at Alice, who struggled to move enough to duck and dodge each individual ball.

Yuyuko arrived, landing next to Yggie and shielding him from Alice’s fight with the Empress. The others landed soon after, bringing their fight with Yakumo with them.

Rumia dissipated her shield. “You shouldn’t have followed me. You’re not supposed to be dead yet.”

“No, but you are!” Alice said as she threw more energy balls at Rumia. Alice Reimu may not have been the best at badass comebacks, but what she lacked in fast wit, she more than made up for in fast magic-casting fingers.

Rumia dodged the attacks effortlessly. “It doesn’t matter anyway; you’re too late. The life essence transference spell is complete.”

The ground beneath them began to shake. Fissures appeared in the roaring earth, threatening to consume everything within reach of those tendrils of fractured terrain.

“Alice!” Marisa shouted. “Get out of there!”

“Yakumo,” Rumia said, “take them back to Touhou.”

Alice flew to the rest of her group. Cherry blossom petals were raining down on them in the thousands thanks in no small part to the vicious earthquake tearing the land apart. Yuyuko and Yggie were reunited, but Yuyuko was watching Yggdrasil in horror, tears on her face. “She’s dead,” Yuyuko said. “Yggdrasil is dead.”

Yakumo appeared above them. “You heard the boss! It’s time for you guys to get a life!” She created a magical field around herself and everyone in Alice’s party. There was a blinding flash of light. When the light faded, they were all once again standing on top of the Pillars of the Underworld, under a sky as black as death.


	4. Chapter 4

_“Together, we were unstoppable.”_

***

“Let go of my sister!” Yakumo shouted, showering Remilia with energy bolts. Patchouli rushed between them and formed a magical barrier to stave off the countless fireballs and ball lightning blasts. She returned fire with her own volley of volatile missiles of magic. Yakumo was hit, and she went down hard. She would have hit the ground hard, too, if there was any ground to land on. Yakumo fell past the top of the Pillars, hurtling toward the planet in the depths below.

Marisa was the one who took the initiative to jump down and catch the falling felon. She landed back on the top of the pillar a few seconds later, awkwardly carrying an unconscious Yakumo. “So what do we do with this one?”

“Yakumo!” Yukari shouted. “Is she alive? Is she breathing?”

Marisa held a finger to Yakumo’s neck. “She’s alive. Too bad though; the irony if she had died bringing us back to life would’ve been dope.” Yukari shot her a look of scorn.

“Wake her up,” Alice said. “We still need her.”

Marisa held back a semi-sarcastic pout (for which the holding back was itself also semi-sarcastic) and slapped Yakumo across the face with enough sting to make a bee jealous.

Yakumo gasped, her eyes now wide open. She grabbed forcefully at Marisa’s dress and looked around frantically. She spotted Yukari, still little more than limp in Remilia’s arms. “Yukari! What did they do to you?”

“I’ll be okay, eventually.” Yukari struggled to get the words out. “They… destroyed my soul gem.”

“And we’ll do the same to you if you don’t start talking,” Alice said.

The blood drained from Yakumo’s face. “You’re monsters.”

“Rumia is the real monster!” Remilia shouted. “She just killed Yggdrasil!” Yuyuko winced at the mention of the world tree.

Color returned to Yakumo’s face. “So the Empress’s plan is still on track! That’s wonderful news!”

“That’s nothing to smile about,” Remilia roared. “Our world is going to die.”

Yakumo shook her head. “Not die—it’s going to be replaced.” Her sly smile looked twisted next to the welt Marisa’s slap had left.

“Replaced?” Alice repeated.

“Replaced,” Yakumo re-repeated. “The Empress got bored with this world. So, she decided to make a new one. A better one. A more challenging one. So, out with the old and in with the new, you know?”

_A more challenging world? Rumia got bored?_ Alice couldn’t comprehend the magnitude of those statements next to their absurdity. Rumia was going to kill billions of Touhous—kill the entire planet of Touhou—because she was _bored_? This entire saga was being fueled by survival-of-the-fittest power fantasies with a dash of narcissism thrown in for good measure?

“In case anyone was still on the fence,” Marisa announced, “Rumia? Definitely evil.”

“Quite,” Remilia agreed.

Alice kept up the questioning. “What does Rumia want with me?”

Yakumo was interrupted before she even began talking, by sunlight peering through the upper reaches of the atmosphere. The darkness that had been hiding the sky was becoming thinner. Woven wisps of shadow retreated into nothingness, and the sun shone fierce upon a land that longed for light. “This is the next step in the plan,” Yakumo said. “Ending the Spell of Imperishable Night after it served its purpose of killing Yggdrasil.”

Well, that was one world-ending crisis averted. Too bad it was immediately being replaced with another. Alice shuddered at the thought. _Replaced_. They had to stop Rumia. No matter what. “And what’s the next step in the Empress’s diabolical master plan?”

“Well, with Yggdrasil dead, the Empress must have successfully transferred the soul of the world into the kid. Now we just need to wait for it to ripen and bloom—the world, not the tree. That’s all the world trees are, really. Incubators for new worlds.”

_Incubators?_ Alice felt a sudden urge to clutch her soul gem in her hand and never let it go.

“Anyway,” Yakumo continued, “then my sister and I were going to cross the border between universes to bring the Empress to the new world.” She frowned at Yukari. “I guess I’ll be doing that on my own, now.”

“No way,” Marisa said. “You’re not bringing the Empress anywhere, unless it’s to justice.”

“Marisa is right,” Remilia said. “We’re not going to let this world be destroyed. And I doubt you can bring all seven billion Touhous on planet Touhou to the new world. So, the only option we have left is to stop Rumia’s plan before she has a chance to finish it.”

Yakumo shook her head. “It’s too late to stop it now. The new world is going to blossom, and if we’re not there when it happens, we’ll be wiped from existence along with every other Touhou—including the planet.” She paused in thought for a few seconds. “If you want, I could ask the Empress if I can bring you lot over to the new world with us. Then you won’t have to make such a fuss, right?”

Alice stared at the girl like she was speaking Japanese. She couldn’t be serious. No one could be that dense. But in seeing the reactions of all her friends to Yakumo’s unbelievable offer, an idea came to her. “Actually, that would be a great idea. That would solve all our problems. Right, everyone?”

Marisa and Patchouli gaped at her, but she glared back at them and winked so hard even a blind person wouldn’t have missed it. Remilia understood without the hint and tightened her grip around Yukari’s arm, an implicit threat against her saying anything about Alice’s wink. Thankfully, she kept her mouth shut. With no one saying anything against the idea, they all gave reluctant nods of assent.

Alice turned back to Yakumo. “Then it’s settled. You can take us all to Ru—I mean, to the Empress so we can ask for permission to live in her world, right?”

 “Of course,” the girl replied. “If she’s still following the plan, she should still be in the Touhou Royal Palace right now. That’s where I warped her on our way out of Gensokyo.”

“Perfect. We can go in a few minutes. I just want to have a private chat with my friends first. Is that okay?” Yakumo gave a noncommittal shrug that Alice took for a yes. Alice signaled for her friends to join her in hopping into flight. Remilia left Yukari with Yakumo on top of the pillar. Once there was enough distance between the girls and the pillar that they could be sure the border patrol sisters couldn’t overhear them, they stopped to talk.

On the pillar, Yakumo ran over to Yukari and embraced her. “Are you okay? Other than, well, you know?”

Yukari looked a pitiful blend of anxious and forlorn, not to mention physically run down. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll know for a long time, if we even survive that long.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Yakumo reprimanded. “Those monsters have done enough messing with the plan. From now on, everything will be just as the Empress said. We didn’t even need to trick them into bringing that Reimu girl to the Empress! She practically volunteered!” Yakumo’s sisterly gaze took on a more sinister look. “You didn’t tell them anything about Alice’s importance, did you?”

Yukari looked away, cheeks reddening. “I let slip that Alice is involved in the Empress’s plan, but not how or why. She’s suspicious, but she doesn’t know enough to be dangerous.”

“Good. Let’s keep it that way. For the Empress’s sake and for ours.”

Slightly higher in the sky and about two hundred feet to the side, the heroines watched the sisters talk. Yuyuko, still holding Yggie close to her chest, frowned disapprovingly at the sisters. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to let them talk alone?”

“They’re family,” Alice said. “They deserve a chance to be together before…” She bit down on the uncertainty that was crawling up her throat. “Before we do what we have to do.” The others had to understand that even if everything went their way, they were up against slim odds. If Alice was going to lead Yakumo and Yukari into a dangerous situation, even if they were practically volunteering, she wanted to make sure they could spend some time with each other while they still had the chance.

Yuyuko’s eyes fell, and her frown turned from one of enmity to empathy. She understood. She ran her hand down Yggie’s stem.

“Honorable sentiments aside,” Remilia said, “what _do_ we have to do? You do have a plan, don’t you Alice?”

Alice took in a deep breath and with all the blustery confidence in the world, said “No.”

Marisa chuckled. “Reimu’s got the right idea. We already have all the plan we need. Bust into the palace, kill the Empress, and find a way to keep our world from dying.” Obviously she had no idea how to do that last part, but that didn’t stop Marisa from carrying the most optimistic smile Alice had ever seen. Alice was glad that Marisa had hope. She hoped that hope would rub off on the rest of them.

“Yeah,” Alice said, returning the smile. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”

At that, Patchouli took on an excited grin, and at that, Remilia gave in and smirked too. Yuyuko almost looked like she was back to her normal self, and Yggie’s greens even looked slightly more colorful than normal. Whether they were prepared or not, they were ready. It was time.

As the girls flew back to the pillar to rejoin Yukari and Yakumo, Marisa put her hand on Alice’s shoulder to keep her back a couple seconds longer. Marisa looked dead serious. “You know this is probably a trap. There’s something those girls aren’t telling us. Something important, about Rumia’s plan. Something about you.”

“I know.”

“So why are we playing into their hand? What are _you_ playing at, Alice?”

“What choice do we have? If we do nothing, we’ll all die. Besides, if we know going into it that it’s a trap, doesn’t that make it _our_ trap?”

“That’s only if you know what the trap is,” Marisa scoffed. “Anyway, just watch yourself once we get there, okay? And know that I’ve got your back, no matter what.”

Alice giggled. “Just like old times.”

“Yeah,” Marisa said with a smile. “Just like old times.”

The dawdling magical girls hurried back to the pillar, where everyone else was waiting. “Is everyone ready?” Yakumo asked. Alice nodded, as did the others. “Well then, here we go.” She held out her arms, and for just an instant, the sky around them fell away to nothingness. And just as suddenly as the void appeared, it disappeared, and they were in a large marble hallway lined with sculptures and portraits of previous empresses and scarlet devils and heroines of legend. They were in the Touhou Royal Palace.

 “I didn’t think I’d be here again so soon,” Marisa said. She wore a grimace that spoke of unpleasant memories that she would sooner forget than trudge through again.

“Yakumo. Where can we find the Empress?” Alice’s voice was firm. She hoped that determination would hold strong.

“In the throne room, probably. It looks like we’re in the east wing of the palace now. We’re not that far away.” Yakumo started walking ahead, holding Yukari to her side as she went. Yukari seemed to have enough energy to walk now, at least. “Follow me.”

The girls only hesitated a little before following the sisters. Whatever was waiting for them in the throne room, Alice could only hope they were ready to face it. Whatever she told her friends, she did have some semblance of a plan, but it was risky and there were too many ways it could go wrong. Especially when they didn’t know what they were up against, other than possibly the strongest magical girl in the world.

The footsteps of the six magical girls and one normal girl echoed through empty hallways, lending the journey an unsettling feeling. “Is the palace normally this empty?” Alice asked Marisa as they walked.

“No,” Marisa replied. “In all my years here, I’ve never seen it empty before.”

Alice fought down a nervous chill.

After a couple more minutes of walking, Yakumo led them to a large pair of black doors. “This is it. The throne room.”

Alice looked to Marisa for confirmation. Marisa nodded. Alice took a deep breath. It was now or never. She focused her chakras. She let the magical energy flow into her physical body, streaming in through her metaphysical one. Her fractured soul gem condensed the energy, acting as the refracting prism through which she could draw upon the infinite energy of the aether. It welled up inside her, as surely as it did in everyone else outside that door (except for Yukari, the poor girl). “Alright. Let’s do this.” With everyone else right behind her, Alice marched right up to the doors and slammed them open.

It wasn’t so much a throne room as it was a throne courtyard. The doors led outside, to an enclosed garden in the middle of the palace. The sky above was bright blue with not a cloud in sight, though the moon hung large directly overhead. On the ground, fountains spilled into streams that ran alongside stone paths. The garden was full of scattered small ponds flush with colorful flora and animated fauna. More than anything, this garden smelled of the promise of eternal spring—a dream that was sullied only by the aura of darkness emanating from the girl sitting cross-legged on the throne before them.


	5. Chapter 5

_“I promised I would always keep you safe.”_

***

“I knew you would come,” Rumia said. “You hero types can never resist—” She was interrupted by five simultaneous streams of energy bullet barrages surging toward her at once. She gracefully dodged them all, bending herself around them like an Olympian contortionist. She struck back with her own series of black energy bolts, each aimed at one of the girls attacking her. The girls ceased their bullet blitzes and all jumped in different directions.

Alice took shelter behind a sculpture of some famous magical girl from antiquity. Rumia continued talking, still as calm as ever. “You know you can’t win. This world is going to be destroyed, and in its place, I will create a utopia where only the strongest will flourish.” Another stream of energy balls shot toward Rumia, and she zigzagged around them like she was a lightning bolt playing at being human. “I tried for so long to reshape this world into the utopia I dreamed of. But I realized long ago that the only chance I had was to start from scratch.”

Alice peeked her head out from behind the statue. Rumia saw her. “Ah, there you are.” Black metal chains materialized out of thin air and wrapped themselves around Alice. She struggled to escape their grasp, but they only pulled down on her tighter. “It’s good that you came. You are essential to the plan.”

“Alice!” Marisa shouted, and she shot Rumia with a huge ball of energy.

Rumia sidestepped it with ease. “Yakumo, Yukari, hold the rest of them down while I finish with Alice.”

Yakumo nodded and started hurling energy balls at Marisa, who barely managed to dodge them in time. Yukari looked at the ground in shame, unable to execute her master’s orders. Patchouli and Yuyuko flew in to protect Marisa from Yuyuko’s relentless assault. Alice could do nothing but watch while tied down.

Rumia casually walked toward Alice. “Do your worst,” Alice said. “We’ll still find a way to stop you.”

The empress ignored Alice’s taunt. “Engineering the birth of a new world was a simple matter, it turned out. Miss Youmuko’s appointment as Guardian of Gensokyo was the first of many dominoes to fall toward that end.”

Blasts of energy were flying in all directions. Remilia, Patchouli, and Yuyuko were holding Yakumo at bay while Marisa threw spheres of highly concentrated energy at both Rumia and the chains holding Alice in place. Rumia deflected some of the blasts right back at Marisa, but the rest managed to hit their mark. The chains exploded in a cloud of black smoke, but more immediately shot out from the ground to keep Alice imprisoned.

“I knew from the beginning that the biggest hurdle would be in fulfilling the gargantuan energy requirements to open up a portal for myself to the new universe, even just for a few seconds,” Rumia continued, staring coolly at Alice as she launched ki blasts at the girls in the courtyard sky behind her. “For the longest time, it seemed that the only thing powerful enough to do the trick would be blood magic—king’s blood, to be precise. There is power in a king’s blood, or a queen’s, or an empress’s. But, obviously, sacrificing myself was not an option.”

Yakumo used her border magic to constantly teleport from one point in the garden to another, never staying in the same place longer than needed to fire a quick storm of bullets on another unsuspecting magical girl. Patchouli manifested a spell book into her hands and uttered some arcane syllables that chilled the air around them. A layer of frost condensed onto the leaves and flowers of the garden. Yakumo reappeared and fired another volley of energy balls at Patchouli, but after that, she didn’t disappear again. Yakumo seemed to struggle to teleport for a few seconds. Seeing Patchouli’s knowing smile, Yakumo ceased her border crossing efforts and took to the sky manually.

Rumia touched her fingers against Alice’s face. Alice squirmed against the chains, unable to move away from the empress’s grazing hand. “Alice Reimu… Have you ever wondered why you were born with half a soul?”

Alice gasped. Amidst the flashing lights of battle above and the convulsing darkness flowing from Rumia in front of her, she felt dizzy, but she still fought to keep the fear from consuming her. “What are you saying?”

“Sacrificing myself was not an option,” Rumia said, manifesting a dagger out of thin air. “But if I worked the cut just right, if I split my own soul gem right down the middle and put it in another body, I could sacrifice my _clone_.”

All the air left Alice’s lungs, just as all thoughts left her mind. Alice’s eyes went wide. She had known Rumia was a youkrai like herself, but she never even stopped to think—how could the Empress of Touhou be a youkrai? _Clone_ … The word hung in the air, hung in her mind, blocking out everything else. Alice was Rumia’s clone. She could feel her soul gem in her ethereal body, feel the jagged edge where it had fractured before she was born—where it had _been_ fractured before she was born.

Rumia smiled, a sadistic glaze setting in over her eyes. “Finally, after decades of planning, everything is in place. I’m sorry you can’t join me in my new world, Alice. You would have been a worthy equal.” She pulled her arm back, pointing the dagger toward Alice’s heart. Alice gave one last effort at escaping her chains, but it was no use. Rumia thrust the dagger forward.

A ball of energy sent the dagger flying out of Rumia’s hand just before it reached Alice’s body. Alice looked in the direction the ball came from and saw Marisa standing to their side, steam still rising from her outstretched palm.

“Get away from her!” Marisa shot a huge storm of magic missiles at the darkness-cloaked Rumia. As Rumia jumped back to evade them, Marisa jumped to where Rumia had stood in front of Alice. With her other hand, she sent a relentless barrage of bullets into the chains holding Alice. “Hurry, before they grow back!” Alice obeyed her friend’s command and took every opportunity the loosening chains gave her to inch her way toward freedom. One by one the chains withered away under Marisa’s assault, until Alice was free.

Yakumo flew over to the Empress as the rest of the heroines regrouped around Alice and Marisa. For the first time in minutes, the courtyard was clear of wayward energy balls. The two groups of magical girls stood (or floated just above the ground) against each other. Yukari hid in the corner, trying her best not to get caught up in the crossfire. All was silent, save for the continued trickle of water from the fountains.

“You stupid girls,” Rumia growled. “Fighting so hard for a world that’s already dead. Did you think you could still save this world?” She raised both her arms to the sky. Threads of darkness flowed out of her fingertips, straight into the sky. “Did you think you could best the most powerful Touhou in living history?” The threads raced higher into the sky, beyond what could be seen with the naked eye. “Even at half my original strength, I have more power than you could comprehend!” In the sky above, the moon darkened. “I’ve leveled cities and mountains and kingdoms and continents!” The black moon grew larger in the sky. “I’ve made this world my plaything, and I can just as easily unmake it!” The threads dissipated from Rumia’s fingers, and the moon went white. And it was still coming closer.

“Well, shit,” Marisa said, staring into the sky.

“Indeed,” Remilia said. “Alice? Any ideas?”

Alice shook her head, wide eyes transfixed on the falling celestial object. “Nothing’s changed. We have to stop Rumia.” They had to stop a magical girl who was powerful enough to knock the moon out of orbit. And they had to find a way to bring Yggdrasil back to life, and they had to find a way to divert the moon from its collision course with the planet. As much as Alice had been trying to convince herself that this was just another normal day in Touhou, she had to admit that the situation was extremely bad. “If we give up now, billions will die.”

Rumia frowned. “Such misplaced tenacity… All you’re doing is delaying the inevitable. Just give me Alice and I’ll allow you to live in my new world.”

 “Never!” Patchouli shouted.

“This world isn’t dead yet,” Yuyuko said. “We’ll save it, and we’ll stop you, or we’ll die trying.”

“Yeah! We’re not going to let you kill Alice!” Marisa said.

Rumia shook her head. “I don’t have to _kill_ Alice. I only need to _make her bleed_.” Rumia signaled for Yakumo to attack, and they both launched hundreds of energy balls at the heroines. The girls scattered in all directions, and the battle continued.

The sky above the palace courtyard was an energy bullet ballet as Alice and the others dodged attacks with every ounce of agility they could muster. Magnificently multicolored orbs of energy flared from Yakumo, while Rumia complemented the symphony with a dance of darkness. With their combined assault, the duo drove Alice further and further away from her team. As soon as it became clear what they were doing, Marisa shouted to the others, “They’re trying to separate us so they can get to Alice!” The girls raced through the storm of energy bullets and lightning bolts, regrouping in front of Alice, forming a human shield around her. Patchouli recited a spell that formed a magical shield around them, too.

Rumia redoubled her efforts to break through their shield. She cast roaringly loud lightning bolts into the barrier, pounding away at it with heavy strikes while Yakumo kept a steady stream of smaller blasts coming. “I can’t hold this for much longer!” Patchouli shouted, sweat rolling down her face from all the magical strain. Rumia pooled her energy, charging up for one huge blast. She unleashed a massive blast of energy at the barrier, and the barrier exploded.

The shock wave from the barrier’s destruction sent Alice slamming into the ground. She struggled to force her bruised and beaten body to get back up. Marisa and Remilia were also on the ground, on the other side of the courtyard. Yuyuko and Patchouli had been thrust sideways rather than downward, and they had made imprints in the walls where their bodies had struck.

“ _No_!” Marisa screamed, looking at Alice. Head still reeling, Alice looked down at her own body. She was covered in bruises and scrapes. Red scrapes. Bloody scrapes.

A single black chain erupted from the earth and wrapped around Alice’s leg. Rumia floated down to her. Alice wanted to resist, to keep on fighting, but she had too little energy left. All she could do was watch Rumia as she landed and touched one of Alice’s bloody cuts. “This will do,” Rumia said. “Yakumo, I’ll channel her energy to you, and you make the portal.”

“Roger that,” Yakumo said, and she descended to join her empress.

Rumia turned back to Alice. “To be honest, I don’t know if this will kill you or not. But if you want to have any chance of surviving, I suggest you don’t resist. Now then… This is going to hurt.” Rumia again put her hand to Alice’s bleeding skin. Her hand began to glow.

A surge of pain more intense than anything Alice ever thought possible shot through her entire body. She screamed, but the outcry did nothing to dull her senses. It felt like her soul was being forcibly ripped out of her body. It felt like all the energy she would ever have access to was pouring from her to Rumia, and slicing through her with thorns as it went. The pain surged, scorched, seared her to her core. It blazed on her soul and all she could do was wish the fire would go out.

“Yes… Yes!” Rumia’s voice was nothing but ecstasy. She guided the energy from Alice to Yakumo, who was condensing it into a large sphere of molten blue and orange energy. The colors in the sphere shifted unstably as the sphere rotated in the air. Alice could barely keep her eyes open long enough to watch it through all the agony.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. Alice opened her eyes. Yakumo’s ball of interdimensional energy hummed menacingly and let off harsh waves of heat. Rumia stared at it wide-eyed and grinning, her life’s work finally realized before her eyes. “Is it ready?”

“Almost,” Yakumo said. “It’s insane how much energy this portal needs.” She still moved her arms around the sphere as it grew, as if guiding its motion with invisible strings. “I’ve never dealt with anything so complex. This might take a couple minutes.”

Rumia glanced up. The moon was four or five times bigger than it should have been in the bright daytime sky. She shrugged. “Acceptable.”

Alice stared at the moon. She had no energy left for anything else. The moon was a white torch in a sunlit sky, growing larger and brighter and closer by the second. The chain around her leg had disappeared at some point. She supposed Rumia didn’t need it anymore; she had already won. Alice would have laughed if she were able to. They had come so far, fought so hard, and they lost. She would have laughed, if only to stop herself from crying.

“Alice…” Marisa said. Alice hadn’t even noticed Marisa crawl up beside her. “Are you okay? Please be alive…”

“I’m alive,” Alice said. She was so weak. The words came out barely above a whisper.

Relief washed over Marisa’s face. Even with everything as it was, seeing Marisa brought a spark of happiness to Alice’s heart. She was go glad she was able to make amends with Marisa before the end. She regretted all those years of spurned friendship, all those years of petty rivalry. But none of that mattered anymore. Nothing at all mattered anymore. The moon grew larger overhead, as did Yakumo’s portal.

“I’m so sorry, Marisa,” Alice said. “We did everything we could and it still wasn’t enough. You believed in me and I failed.”

“We haven’t failed yet,” Marisa said. She looked over to Rumia and Yakumo. They were fully absorbed in watching and working on the portal, paying no heed to the girls on the ground. “Alice… Do you remember how we first met?”

Alice nodded.

“My village had been taken over by the evil magical girl Stellar-Chan Mitsubishi… I was young, but I knew a monster when I saw one. I tried fighting her to free my friends and family. I failed. She took me prisoner and had me tortured, as an example to anyone else thinking they could stand up against her. Those were the worst weeks of my life, but I never gave in. I never gave up hope. She was never able to break me.

“That’s when you showed up. Alice Reimu, the young heroine, coming out of nowhere to bring my people to freedom. You saved us. You saved _me_. You were everything I wanted to be. Honorable, heroic, compassionate, strong. You were the world to me. I begged you to teach me how to be a hero like you, and then we went on to become one of the greatest magical girl duos the world has ever seen. Team Shanghai Alice… Together, we were unstoppable.

“From the beginning, we’ve always had each other’s backs. No matter how bad things got, you were always there for me, and I tried to be for you. I promised I would always keep you safe.” Marisa’s lips formed a gentle smile. “I’m sorry, Reimu… I need to break my promise now.”

 “What?” Alice said, and an aura of energy flared up around Marisa. She held her soul gem in her hand, and a determined grin on her face. She squeezed her soul gem, hand trembling, as the aura gained more charge. She gave one last smile to Alice, along with a wink for good measure, and she shot herself straight at Yakumo.

Marisa grabbed Yakumo in mid-air and kept flying upward. Yakumo never had a chance to react. Marisa flew straight up, squeezing Yakumo so tight that she wouldn’t be able to escape Marisa’s grasp even after they left the range of Patchouli’s freeze spell. The sound barrier crackled behind them. They went faster. Higher. The atmosphere got thin and Marisa held her breath.

Yakumo ceased her weak struggle against Marisa’s body. The sky around them darkened as they crossed the boundary into space. The last border Yakumo would ever cross. The sky was dark, but the humongous moon ahead of them was blazing like the sun. It was so close now. Marisa had to squint to look at it, the outer layers of her eyeballs boiling away in the vacuum of space. Her lungs were screaming for oxygen. She ignored it all. She only had one chance to make this work. One chance to fix everything.

She tossed her soul gem at the moon as hard as she could. Keeping her arm outstretched, she focused all the energy she had left into a single bright ball. She launched it forward.

The explosion that erupted from Marisa’s destroyed gem engulfed half the sky. The furious white supernova consumed the moon completely, reaching from far behind it to just short of the planet’s atmosphere below. It glowed with an intensity like nothing anyone on Touhou had ever seen before. When it faded, nothing was left but a smoldering cloud of cosmic dust.


	6. Chapter 6

_“I’m sorry, Reimu.”_

***

Alice looked into the dimming cloud of stardust, tears streaming down her face. The moon was gone. Yakumo was gone. _Marisa_ was gone. She had saved them, saved them all. Everyone on the planet would have Marisa to thank if they managed to make it through the day alive. And she was gone.

“No! No, no, no!” Rumia shouted frantically. “Do you realize what you’ve done?! Without Yakumo, there’s no way of leaving this wretched world before it dies! You’ve doomed us all!”

Alice saw a couple red energy balls flash by in the courtyard sky above her, followed shortly by black energy balls going in the opposite direction. She was so tired. She didn’t think she could move. She didn’t think she had anything left to give in the fight against Rumia. She fought just to keep her eyes open. Her friends were still fighting back, still giving everything they had. _Marisa gave everything for us_. She clung onto consciousness by a thread, and the thread was rapidly slipping from her grasp.

Awareness and sensation flooded Alice’s body. She jerked up with a start, eyes wide, numbness in her body being replaced by burning agony. Patchouli was by her side, touching her arm, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. “I don’t think I can do that again,” she said. “Was it enough?”

Alice clenched her fingers into a fist, examining her strength. She let energy flow through her body, swirling up inside her like whirlpool of fire. It wasn’t much. Patchouli must have been running on fumes just like everyone else. It wasn’t much… but it was enough. “Yeah,” she said. “Let’s go save the world.” Patchouli smiled, and the two magical girls got to their feet—helping each other out with their mutually wobbly legs—and jumped into the battle.

Alice fired several bright blue energy blasts at Rumia, who evaded them and struck back with her own multipronged laser beam attack that had one beam for each opponent she faced. Rumia spun around wildly, spreading the destruction of the energy beams out in all directions. Remilia pulled a trap card out of her side deck and activated it, redirecting all the laser beams in arcs toward herself, and with the way between them clear, Remilia shot the converged beams straight back at Rumia.

Rumia shrouded herself in a veil of darkness that shielded her from the brunt of the attack, but it was clear that the defensive action took a lot out of her. When she lowered her shield, she was breathing as heavily as any of the other magical girls, but that didn’t seem to slow her down. She immediately launched another attack, this time filling the entire courtyard—what was left of it, at least—with a rainbow swarm of motionless energy orbs, turning the entire battlefield into a minefield. Then, the minefield started rotating.

The heroines were quick to get out of the way of the energy balls that came near them, but they kept coming faster and faster. Alice almost made herself dizzy in dodging the orbs in her part of the sky, flipping upside down and side to side and whatever other directions came most fluidly in navigating this maze of energy bombs. At the center of the rotating storm of bullets, Rumia twirled around, laughing madly.

On the far side of the spinning energy minefield, Alice saw Yuyuko deftly dodging bullets. Alice focused her chakras and flew to her, carefully avoiding all the colorful balls that threatened to zap her into oblivion. “Yuyuko! Where’s Yggie?”

Yuyuko answered Alice in between sidestepping Rumia’s energy spheres. “I put him in the garden before the fighting started earlier,” she said. She focused her own chakra the way Alice had, allowing her to slow down and be more precise with her motion. “I thought it would be a good opportunity for him to make friends.” She pointed to the ground in one of the courtyard’s corners.

Alice looked. Yggie was on the ground next to some bushes and medium-sized shrubs, still within Rumia’s attack field. Orbs of densely concentrated energy constantly slammed into an invisible shield that extended out from Yggie to cover himself and the plants around him. Each impact caused an explosion that clearly defined the shape of Yggie’s shield. Despite everything happening around him, Yggie was completely unharmed.

A small energy ball nicked Alice in the leg. She yelped. Mentally cursing herself for letting her attention slip, Alice returned to concentrating on keeping away from Rumia’s energy orbs. “Our world needs a world tree or it’ll die,” she shouted to Yuyuko.

 “I know,” Yuyuko responded. She just barely managed to avoid an energy ball to the skull by snapping her head to the side. They were still getting faster. “What can we do?”

“We need to use Yggie,” Alice said. “It’s the only way.” A violet orb rushed toward her chest. Acting on instinct, she caught it in her hands and spun around and threw it at Rumia. The ball burned her hands for the split second she held it, but not as much as she expected. Maybe being part Rumia gave her some sort of protection from Rumia’s energy wavelengths? Or more likely, she was just completely numb at this point.

Rumia didn’t see the attack coming. It hit her head on, exploding into a cloud of vicious black smoke that did little to muffle Rumia’s scream of pain. The rest of the energy balls flying around the courtyard stopped in mid-air, fell to the ground, and fizzled out of existence.

Alice turned back to Yuyuko. She wasn’t sure whether the girl’s expression was one of shock over Alice’s counterattack on Rumia, or one of horror at the thought of using Yggie as their world’s world tree. “But he’s just a baby…” Yuyuko muttered. _Ah_. So it was the second one.

“It doesn’t matter,” Alice rushed to say. She didn’t know how long they had before Rumia came back with an even more ridiculous attack. “We have no other options. Yggie can save us. Your child can save the world!” Yuyuko had to understand. Marisa’s sacrifice couldn’t be for nothing.

Yuyuko closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Alice could almost see her steel herself for the painful decision. When Yuyuko opened her eyes, she was nothing but grim determination. “Okay.” She flew down to Yggie and grabbed his pot.

The smoke around Rumia cleared with a sudden outward gust of wind. Her body trembled, seething with rage. She saw Yuyuko on the ground with Yggie. “No! I won’t let you destroy my world!” She lunged toward Yuyuko.

Alice leapt to her friend’s defense. She landed in front of Yuyuko just in time to shield them both from Rumia’s energy-inflamed fist. “Hurry!” Alice shouted. “Get out of here!” She fired a close-range energy ball directly into Rumia’s torso, giving Yuyuko enough time to fly out of the courtyard with Yggie in tow. Patchouli and Remilia landed on Alice’s sides, ready to back her up in the battle against Rumia.

Rumia’s mouth contorted into a deeper scowl at the sight of the assembled team. Balls of light manifested in her hands.

***

Yuyuko raced out of the palace grounds as fast as she could. She didn’t know if anyone would be around to stop her, but she didn’t want to take the chance. She had to find somewhere safe, if that was even possible on this side. Yggdrasil had resided in Gensokyo because no living person could harm it there—or so everyone thought. But with no way into Gensokyo without killing Yggie alongside herself, the Overworld would have to do.

The grand roof of the palace receded under Yuyuko, and she found herself flying above a vast forest. She ignored the weight of Yggie’s pot and pushed herself to fly faster.

***

Remilia deflected blasts of energy aimed at a distracted Patchouli, reading and reciting as fast as she could from one of her many spell books. Electricity crackled between its pages, and a flood of fairies and pixies poured out from the leather-bound tome. The mindless minions circled Rumia, acting as little more than a minor obstacle for the Empress as they shot at her with their own weak energy bullets. Rumia plowed through them, but the diversion gave Alice the time she needed to complete her own magical incantation. All the energy balls seeding the arena shifted to a blue hue. They flew at her, and she absorbed their power.

***

The air stung Yuyuko’s eyes as she flew at supersonic speeds. She could see it in the distance—the forest’s edge was coming closer. Hopeful for the first time in ages, she hurried on.

***

Wisps of shadow engulfed the re-energized Alice, tendrils of darkness as sharp as any blade. Alice’s powerful blasts of magic did nothing to keep the threads at bay. They rushed toward her, weaving her into a cocoon of black razors. On the bright side, she could still see by the light of her own magic. On the not so bright side, she could see that the cocoon was getting smaller.

***

The long forest came to an end. Yuyuko flew above a sea of grass, a savanna extending to the horizon and beyond. Sunlight shone brightly on the plain. Yuyuko descended.

***

Alice channeled all the energy she had collected into a single huge explosion focused on just one end of the cocoon. The wisps shrieked away as if hurt by the blast, leaving a hole large enough for Alice to fly out of. She slammed into Rumia, sending both of them rolling across the ground for several feet.

***

Yuyuko shot at the ground with an energy blast, leaving a crater just large enough to fit Yggie’s infantile roots. Holding him above the hole, she very carefully shot a smaller energy blast at his pot. The pot shattered. Yggie and his mound of dirt fell into the hole.

***

Alice struggled to push herself off the ground. Rumia was only a couple feet away, doing the same. Both of them panted furiously. Sunlight glinted off something in the grass between them. Rumia’s dagger lay abandoned on the ground. Alice grabbed it.

Crawling toward Alice, Rumia manifested a glowing black ball of energy in her hand. “Even if our identical soul gems make us equals,” she snarled, “you will never beat me in a magical duel!” Kneeling, she towered above Alice.

“Maybe not, but I don’t have to!” Alice thrust the dagger into Rumia’s chest, tearing through flesh and bones and organs. Rumia’s eyes went wide, and her jaw fell open in a silent, shaking scream. As the life faded from her eyes, her limp body fell further into the blade. Alice rolled over, dropping the dagger. The corpse of the Empress of Touhou hit the ground.

***

The previously potted mound of dirt connected with the soil of the ground. Yggie’s roots reached out, breathing in the unfamiliar earth, growing, flowing, flowering, towering tendrils digging deep into the planet’s crust. The soul of the world flowed into Yggie through all the trees in the universe, in this plane of existence and beyond. And through Yggie, life flowed into them.

All the trees, all the grass, all the plants on the planet felt their flow of life restored by the new world tree, the liveliness so fresh as if to be completely foreign to them. They sung out in perfect harmony of their newly blossoming youth, floral voices in ethereal hymn. Across the planet, long dormant flowers bloomed for the first time in ages. Winds rose across seas and plains, racing to tell all the world that the time for living had come again. Faded colors turned crisp. Distant sounds turned clear. The World Tree touched the world, and the world became complete.

***

Alice, Remilia, and Patchouli watched the world be reborn before their eyes. They watched with the same awe that every magical girl on the planet (plus Yukari) bore for the burgeoning transformation. They watched and they cheered, laughing, hugging one another, surrendering themselves to the beauty of a world in full bloom.

“We did it!” Patchouli said, dancing around in the air. “We really did it!”

“Was there ever any doubt?” Remilia said, her smile as wide as the world was bright.

Patchouli shook her head. “Nuh-uh, I knew Alice could do it!”

Alice spared Patchouli a quick smile and went back to watching Yuyuko fly back to them. She waved at Yuyuko, and Yuyuko waved back. When she got close enough, Alice could see that she was smiling happily too. And above all, proudly. The new World Tree was her very own child, after all.

“Yuyuko!” Patchouli shouted once she was in hearing distance. “Alice did it! She defeated Rumia!”

Yuyuko landed in the palace courtyard beside everyone else. Even this place, devastated by the long battle, seemed to be humming with renewed vigor. “And Yggie has taken up the mantle Yggdrasil left for him,” Yuyuko said.

“Then it’s finally over,” Alice said. “We saved the world.” She smiled, but the warmth she conveyed was fake. She felt all too numb inside.

“Technically, since there’s a new World Tree, this is a different world now,” Yuyuko said. “Not that the distinction particularly means anything. The world has a new soul, that’s all.”

 “New world tree, new world.” Remilia chuckled. “Shall we call it New Touhou?”

“A new world…” Alice said. “Looks like Rumia got her wish after all.” It was kind of poetic, in a sense. After all her efforts, Rumia finally got her new world—and she was the only one who wouldn’t be around to see it. Only her and…

“Not to mention, new world order,” Remilia said. “We just successfully deposed the Touhou Empress. We might want to fill that power vacuum before it becomes a power struggle. What do you say, Alice? Think you can fill those shoes?”

“What?! Why me?”

Remilia shrugged. “Why not? You are Rumia’s soul clone, after all. Being an empress is practically in your DNA. And your pure heart is just what Neo Touhou needs.”

Patchouli giggled. “Alice for Empress!”

_Neo Touhou?_ Alice shook her head. “I’d be horrible; I don’t know the first thing about leading an empire. I couldn’t even organize a birthday party on my own! But, I do know someone who _would_ be a good fit. Someone with a good heart _and_ a good mind, who would definitely put the interests of the common people before all others.”

Remilia stared at her, unchanging, for a few seconds. Then her eyes went wide with realization. “Do you mean… me?!”

Alice nodded, and she looked to Yuyuko for backup. Yuyuko smiled. “I think you’d make a wonderful empress, Remilia.”

Remilia’s face colored. Alice couldn’t tell whether the deep crimson on Remilia’s cheeks was another side effect of Yggie’s touch on the world enhancing all senses, or if Remilia truly was caught that much off guard. “I…” Remilia’s gaze looked distant, lost in thought. “Okay. I’ll do it.” In an instant, she regained her composure, resuming that air of casual authority that she had made her own. She turned to Patchouli. “How would you like to be the librarian to the Touhou Royal Library?”

Patchouli looked as if she might die from happiness. “It would be my greatest honor.”

Remilia laughed, and soon enough everyone else joined in. Alice looked to the sky, smiling. The bright blue expanse filled her vision, bathing her in the warmth of the world she helped save. The longest day of her life was finally over.

 

_One month later_

 

Alice flew aimlessly above one of the many great forests of Nova Touhou—watching, searching, on patrol. It had been a quiet couple of weeks, with word of the new Empress slowly making its way around the world, and most people still recovering from the chaos of what was now being called the Day of Darkness. But that was no reason for Alice to let her guard down. In the middle of all this chaos would be the perfect time for an evil magical girl to strike.

The breeze was cool on her skin, bringing the trees to a gentle sway. Alice waved back at them, earning awkward stares from some other magical girls passing by. She knew it was silly, but she couldn’t help but think it was Yggie waving at her. She made a mental note to visit Yggie and Yuyuko soon. Yuyuko finally had a house in the Overworld, near Yggie so she could always be close to him. Alice didn’t think Yggie still needed looking after, but she knew as little about parenting as she did about metaphysical dendrology.

Out on patrol like this, Alice couldn’t help but remember the old days. Flying around with Marisa at her side, stopping evil, saving lives… Alice missed Marisa. She missed Marisa more than anything. She no longer blamed herself for what happened—she knew she couldn’t always save everybody—but the pain was still too fresh to be forgotten. So for now, all she could do was remember, and do her best to honor her friend’s memory.

All the people Alice saw looked so happy. And how could they not be? They were alive. They were here, together, in this wonderful world, and that meant they could do anything. That’s what really mattered, in the end. Not the worlds, not the empresses, even if all the worlds and empresses Alice knew were among her best friends. It was the people that mattered. Alice knew that, as she looked beyond Nova Touhou. She knew she would never stop fighting for every last one of them.

After all, she was a hero.


End file.
